Slack adjuster for railway car brakes



Aug 23, .1932.

A. M. CAPPER SLACK ADJUSTER FOR RAILWAY CAR BRAKES Fil ed Sept. 21. 1931 mmzssrs .ARTHUR H. CAPPEB,

Patented Aug. 23, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENI? orrlcs ROLL & STEEL FOUNDRY COMPANY, 01'

OF DELAWARE or nuswoa'rn, PENNSYLVANIA, assroNoa r0 CONTINENTAL nas'r cnrcaeo, INDIANA, a conroanmoN snaex anms'rna r02. RAILWAY can Brian's Application filed September 81, 1931. Serial No. 564,050.

This invention'relates to railway car brake riggings, and more particularly to slack adjusters therefor.

The common railway brake rigging comprises brake actuating levers arranged one at each side of a car truck bolster and joinedat their lower ends by a connecting rod. One of these, the live lever, is pivotally connected to a brake actuating mechanism, and the other, the dead lever, is privotally and adjustably connected at its upper end to the truck bolster or to the bottom of the car. To take up the lost motion developed in the brake rigging by wear on the moving parts and on the brake shoes, the upper or fulcrum end of the dead lever is moved away from the bolster the desired distance, and there secured. There are various means for adjustably connecting the dead lever to the truck bolsteror car, but those which are most accessible to adjustment comprise several parts that make the structure complex and expensive, while those which require but few parts can be adjusted only with difiiculty by crawling beneath the car truck and working in cramped quarters.

It is among the objects of this invention to provide a slack adjuster for railway car rakes which requires only two parts, is readily accessible to adjustment without going beneath the car, is simple and inex ensive, and insures proper brake clearance a er all slack has been taken up.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, of which Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of a car truck supporting one end of a railway car partly shown; Fig. 2 a sectional view of a bracket, taken on the line 1111 of Fig. 1 Fig. 3 a sectional view taken on the line III-III of Fig. 2; and Fig. 4 a sectional view of the center sill of the railway car, taken on the line IVIV of Fig. 1, showing a manner of mounting the bracket 0n the sill.

In accordance with the invention a tension member is attached to the dead lever for shifting the fulcrum thereof to take up slack, the opposite end of the member being adjustably secured in.a bracket mounted on the center sill of the car, said bracket being adapted to insure proper brake clearance after said slack has been taken up as far as possible.

Referring to the drawing, a car truck havd ing wheels 1 and supporting one end of a railway car 2 on bolster 3 is equipped with the usual brake rigging. Brake shoes l -adapted to engage the'wheels 'are mounted on the ends of brake beams 5.v secured to the middle of each beam is a horizontally'disposed strut 6 in one of which live lever 7-is pivotally mounted at one sideof the bolster, dead lever'8 being so mounted in the other. Lever 7 is connected at its upper endby rod 9 to a suitable'source of brake actuating power, not shown, whilezthe u per end'of the dead lever .is held in'adjusta le position to form a fulcrum point. The lower ends of the levers are pivotallycon nected by a rod 10 in the usual manner.

The means for securing the dead lever 8 in position comprises a chain 11 fastened at one end to the upper end of this lever, and a bracket 12 mounted on centersill13 near the end of the car. As shown in Fig. 4 of the drawing, base 16 of the bracket is secured to the bottom and at one side of thesill in any suitable manner, such as by bolts extending through apertures in the bracket base andflange 17 of the center sill. To makeit pos sible to take up lost motion in the rigging caused by wear of the parts, and particularly by wear on the brake shoes, bracket 12 is bifurcated, forming jaws 14 with a slot 15 between them extending from the outer 'end of the bracket to its base. This slot is just wide enough to accommodate a link ofchain 11 lying in a plane parallel to the slot, the jaws holding the chain against longitudinal movement by engaging an adjacent link lying in a plane at right angles to that of t e one disposed in the slot. As shown in Fig. 2, the faces of the jaws are curved inwardly to conform generally to the contour of the links so that the jaws will have sufficient cross sectional area to withstand the strain exerted upon them by the chain.

An important feature of the invention is the provision of means for preventing the chain. from being taken up so far as to cause the brakes to drag. This is accomplished, as shown the drawing, by having aws 14 extend outwardly and obliquely away from the and sufliciently to apply the brakes and is dead lever at such an angle that the distance then engaged by the jaws it is locked thereby between a line dropped from the forward at proper brake-clearance position.

edge of the outer end of slot 15 and the forward edge of the inner end of the slot is such that proper brake clearance is provided when the chain is inlocked position in the bracketafter having been pulled far enough to take up all slack andthen slipped into the slot. Thus, when it is desired to take up slack in the rigging, chain 11 is slipped out of slot 15 and is pulled until thebrake shoes engage the wheels without danger of causing the brakes to drag, for when the chain is slipped back into the slot it is locked at the'inner end thereof which is closer to the dead lever than proper anchoring member, and further, danger of taking up the slack too far is eliminated.

According to the provisions of the patent, statutes, I have explained the principle and operation of my invention and have described what- I now consider to be its best embodiment. However, I desire to have it understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

I claim:

1. In 'a slack adjuster for railway car brakes, the combination with a car having a centersill and a brake rigging including a dead lever, of a tension member attached to said dead lever for shifting the fulcrum thereof, and holding it in different positions, and a bifurcated bracket mounted on said center sill and having jaws adapted to secure said tension member between them to permit slack in the brake rigging to be taken up, said jaws projecting outwardly and obliquely I away from saiddead lever to such extent that when the tension member is pulled free from said jaws and sufiiciently to apply the brakes and is then engaged by the jaws it is locked thereby at proper brake-clearance position.

2. In a slack adjuster for railway car brakes, the combination with a car having a center sill and a brake rigging including a dead lever, of a chain attached to the upper .end of said dead lever for shifting the fulcrum thereof and holding it in different positions, and a bifurcatedbracket mounted on said sill and having jaws for engaging and securing said chain between them to permit slack in the brake rigging to be taken. up, said jaws projecting outwardly and obliquely away from said dead lever to such extent that when the chain is pulled free from said jaws In testimony whereof, I si ARTHUR 

